


Try Morph

by twilight_shades



Series: Try [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Feelings, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Injury, Leonard Snart Lives, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 06:04:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13968930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilight_shades/pseuds/twilight_shades
Summary: Sequel to Try Lateral.  Leonard gets hurt on a job, Iris and Barry help afterwards.





	Try Morph

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Do not own. Complete fiction.

Leonard tells ARGUS there’s someone on the inside feeding information to enemies, foreign and domestic. They assure him they’ll take care of it. He makes contingency plans anyway. Unfortunately, the person on the inside is a lot higher up than he had suspected and he walks right into a trap. He is good at what he does, but with near constant attention and some of the damage inflicted, it takes far longer than he’d like to escape. When he finally, finally reaches Central, after his debrief and being ‘cleared’ by ARGUS medical, he doesn’t go to one of his safe houses like he should. He’s tired and he’s hurt and he wants to be somewhere with people who care. He heads to Iris and Barry’s place. 

There’s no answer to his knock, even though it’s pretty late, so he breaks in. He turns on the TV, sort of expecting some sort of disaster and, yes, someone is tearing up downtown and The Flash is there to stop them, so a fairly typical Tuesday night in Central. Leonard sighs and sits down gingerly on the couch. He shouldn’t. He knows it’s a bad idea to stop moving because it will be so hard to get going again. Barry and Iris probably won’t be home for hours. He should go to the safe house on Lakeside, get his aching body in that amazing steam shower. He will, in a few minutes. He rests his head against the back of the couch and closes his eyes.

~~~

Leonard hears the TV and voices, but he can’t seem to get himself to fully rouse. Maybe he should have stayed with the medical team longer. Honestly, though, he wasn’t going to stick around an ARGUS facility any longer than he’d had to – he hadn’t had an abundance of trust for the personnel before this and now there’s even less. Plus, he doesn’t really like medical settings or being touched by people he doesn’t know. Then, of course, there’s all of his previous experience with pain and injury – it doesn’t make him a medical expert, but he can mostly tell the difference between critical and not.

“Did we leave the TV on?” asks Barry’s voice.

“Could have,” says Iris’ voice tiredly.

Leonard should announce his presence or something, if only he could get his eyes to open.

“Oh! Is that… Leonard?” asks Iris’ voice, surprised.

There’s a rush of air. “Iris!” calls Barry’s voice, alarmed.

Leonard pries open his eyes, well, sort of, one of them has swollen almost shut, and lifts his head. In front of him is Barry, hands hovering like he isn’t sure where to touch. Iris comes over and perches on the coffee table, looking at Leonard worriedly.

“What happened?” Iris asks.

“Got caught,” Leonard says succinctly.

“You did?” Barry asks doubtfully.

Leonard rolls his eyes and almost winces because wow, that hurt. “I’m good, kid, I ain’t magic.”

Barry smiles slyly. “Oh, I don’t know, you’re pretty magical with your-“

“Barry, is now the time?” Iris interrupts.

Barry grimaces, chastened.

“Besides, they had some insider information,” Leonard says.

“They what?” Iris asks dangerously.

Leonard smirks at her. “You know they’ll stop you if you try to write an exposé?”

Iris smirks back. “They could try, but that’s not what I was thinking of.”

“No?”

“I know some people who can put a word or two in the ears of people on the committee that funds ARGUS. I will be having a talk with someone at ARGUS about how they should be more careful with their assets otherwise they could find themselves up for review,” Iris says.

“Nice, enough of threat to concern them, since people _hate_ justifying procedures and expenditures, but not enough for them to retaliate,” Barry says.

“Hmm,” Leonard says, too tired to think of something relevant or witty to contribute.

“Have you taken anything?” Iris asks.

“No.” Leonard doesn’t usually do more than over-the-counter painkillers. When he was younger, after a session with his father had gotten him an emergency room visit, they’d given him something for the pain that worked really well, but made him too out of it to do much when his father went after Lisa. Later, there’d been the times he’d had to watch his own back and couldn’t afford to be too unfocused.

“I can go get something,” Barry says and is out the door before Leonard can reply.

Leonard looks at Iris.

Iris sighs. “He does that sometimes, not asking whether you actually want something or not before getting it. You can help me train it out of him.”

Leonard lifts his eyebrows at Iris. Barry can be awfully stubborn, especially when he thinks he’s right about something.

Iris frowns. “We can try at least. How bad is it?”

“The pain?”

“The injuries. I don’t think we have the same pain reference scale, so even if you told me the complete truth, I don’t think I could judge that.”

She is probably right. “Mostly bruises, a cracked rib, a couple of broken fingers,” Leonard says holding up his left hand with the ring and pinkie fingers splinted and taped to his middle one for stabilization.

Iris peers at him suspiciously. “Would any of these bruises be a concussion or bruised bones or organs?”

“No concussion.”

“And?”

Leonard very much admires her sharpness and how she sometimes won’t let him get away with manipulating or misleading, which is almost second nature to him. He very much believes that her unawareness about who The Flash was at first was partly willful ignorance borne out of not wanting to believe that her father and Barry would keep such a secret from her. In Leonard’s experience, everybody lies and keeps secrets at least sometimes, only the motivations sometimes change when dealing with loved ones. “Several ribs, left ulna, right kneecap, spleen, stomach, and heart,” he recites, smirking at last one because, really, Leonard Snart’s got a bruised heart.

“Heart?” Iris repeats, looking aghast.

Apparently, she doesn’t find it as funny as he does. To be fair, when it happened, he did not find it at all funny - he’d actually wondered, in the moment just after the blow to his chest, if his heart had stopped. He also hadn’t been wild about the doctor that had checked him over detailing all the things that could have happened. As if Leonard had been in a position to avoid the blow and would be able prevent a repeat performance. Leonard is a fan of having information, unless having that information makes things more difficult without added benefit.

Leonard tries to think of something to say to Iris that isn’t to the effect that he’s had worse. She’ll just get that impossibly sad and somewhat guilty expression she gets. She still blames herself for what she said to him that Christmas before he got recruited by Rip Hunter. He had mostly dismissed it at the time, figuring she hadn’t had the whole story. He had been more focused on what he was there for, anyway. He’d found out later when she had apologized that he’d been right about her ignorance – Barry had glossed over a lot and her father had made Lewis Snart sound like a corrupt cop and incompetent criminal who was kind of mean to his kids. It still stings a little, if he thinks about it, the way any remark that makes what he and Lisa experienced seem like no big deal, but he doesn’t hold it against her. He decides to go with something simple, “I’ll heal.”

Iris opens her mouth to say something but there’s a sudden wind and blur and Barry’s back.

“Hey, so, I brought a couple of different things because I didn’t know if you had any allergies, which, yeah, I didn’t ask, so I checked with Gideon and she said that you didn’t have any allergies, but there are a few meds that really hit you hard and that you didn’t really like really strong pain meds, which, yeah, I should have asked about too, and then I thought maybe I shouldn’t have asked Gideon about you, but I already had, and I have questions about your hand that I will ask you later, but, anyway, I brought some different sample packs so you could decide what you want and some ibuprofen if you don’t want anything stronger,” Barry says all in one breath.

“Okay,” Leonard drawls slowly.

“Could I, um, the bed,” Barry says and moves his hand from one place to another so fast that it’s a blur, a gesture that means he wants flash someone somewhere. He adds a swooping motion at the end that means he also wants to completely or partially disrobe that someone, a more recent addition to the gesture. 

Leonard considers. It’s good that Barry asks now, when there isn’t imminent danger. Leonard had tried glaring and pointed commentary to get him to ask, and though Barry apologized, he’d done it again. But when Leonard had iced the ground around Barry after he had flashed Leonard away and Leonard had asked a shocked Barry if he thought that Leonard should have warned Barry, Barry had apparently gotten the point. Leonard looks at Iris, but she looks like she’s just waiting for him to decide. It’s going to hurt, but not as much as doing it himself and it will be over a lot quicker. “Fine.”

Leonard is stripped down to his underwear and placed onto the bed in an instant. He closes his eyes as the disorientation from the superspeed and the pain from moving at all wash over him. He doesn’t open them until he’s sure he can keep from showing it. Judging by the stricken expression on Barry’s face, he’s not that successful. But Barry’s not looking at his face. He’s looking at Leonard’s body, more specifically, the heavy bruising on Leonard’s body. Leonard will admit that it looks bad, but the kid has to have seen worse, hell, the kid has to have _had_ worse. Iris comes into the bedroom then. Her expression goes tight and her eyes are assessing as she looks him over.

Barry’s hand hovers over Leonard’s chest, like he’s afraid to touch. Barry finally lets his fingers drift over Leonard’s bruised skin, so whisper-soft it doesn’t hurt. “I’m so glad you came back to us,” Barry says, his voice trembling. “And I know that you can’t make any promises about that, that someday, sooner or later, you aren’t going make it back, or, or maybe it will be me or Iris that doesn’t make it back. But that just makes it really important for you to try because the more you do, the more chances we’ll have for making really good memories with each other. Good memories help.”

Leonard’s not sure what to do with that. He’s not sure how reassuring he can actually be. “Barry, I-

“We love you,” Iris cuts in.

Leonard freezes and Barry looks over at her.

“That’s what Barry was trying so hard not to say. I love you, he loves you, we’re both in love with you and it hurts us when you’re hurt. It hurts to think of you being hurt. This so easily could have been worse. We’re not asking you to stop. Just, I want you to know how much you mean to us.”

Leonard really has no idea what to say now. He opens his mouth, but closes it without saying anything. He’s really off his game here.

“You don’t have to say anything. We just wanted you to know,” Barry says. “Now, did you want something for the pain?”

Most of the stronger pain meds make Leonard what he calls hazy (Lisa calls it loopy, but if Leonard is being honest, it's actually more like dreamy). But maybe that would be a good thing right now. “Sure, why not?”

~~~

‘I should really thank Ramon,’ Leonard thinks, watching Barry.

“Why should you thank Cisco?” Barry asks.

Apparently he didn’t just think it, but said it aloud. Leonard may have even less of a tolerance to the pain meds than he thought. He can’t decide if that’s good or bad. He is definitely not feeling much pain. He wonders if The Flash could be faster than a pain signal. That’s an interesting thought.

Iris is suddenly in front of him. “Hey, are you okay?” Iris asks.

“Iris. You would make a good rogue, I think. You could be Eye in the Sky.”

Iris blinks at him. “Thanks?”

“Eye in the Sky?” Barry asks.

“Reporter. And Iris. Eye,” Leonard says, but pauses at a new thought, “Or maybe something like Hemlock. Pretty flower, but dangerous.”

“I’d like to think I don’t have a poison pen,” Iris says with a raised brow and an arch smile.

“Good one,” Leonard says. He loves it when someone plays along.

“What does this have to do with Cisco?” Barry asks, sounding confused.

“Nothing,” Leonard says, wondering why Barry brought it up, before remembering. "Oh, that. I wanted to thank him for his ridiculous charade at the train.”

“You knew?”

“Yes, I am familiar with vacuum cleaners,” Leonard says dryly. 

“Ah,” Barry says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Why would you thank him for that?” Iris asks curiously.

Leonard maybe shouldn’t have brought this up. It will make him seem too soft. And he doesn’t want to seem soft. Does he? Oh, well. “I had been trying to figure how to be considered a serious threat and not actually kill you. Ramon gave me an excuse.”

“You sure didn’t seem to have a problem with it when I was facing off with you and Heatwave in the street,” Barry says huffily.

Leonard smirks at him. “Didn’t I? You are still here.”

“So, that was all for show?” Barry asks skeptically.

Leonard can maybe see how it would not have seemed like it. “I may have led Mick to believe we were trying to actually take you out, but, though he’s good, his reflexes were never going to beat yours.”

“You were betting my life on that?”

“Please. The worse you would have gotten was a little singed and a little frostbite, which would have healed pretty quickly. Not exactly fun for you, but you did learn a little something about your capabilities and limitations, didn’t you?”

“You’re telling me you planned it like that?” Barry asks incredulously.

“Oh no, of course not, I mean, breaking someone from a prison transport is a snap to do on the fly,” Leonard says sarcastically. It maybe doesn’t come out as pointedly as he wants it to because he’s trying to keep from smiling at Barry.

Barry stares at him, looking dumbfounded. “Oh my God.”

Iris starts laughing.

Leonard can’t hold back the smile anymore. “I’m glad you came to Cinnamon that night. Though you could have ended up with someone like Sparkling Sean.” He wrinkles his nose at the thought.

“No. We wouldn’t have,” Iris says with certainty.

“He’s a persistent ass. I’ve seen him badger people into taking him home.”

“No, we were there for you. If you hadn’t been there, we would have left,” Barry says. “Well, Iris probably would’ve done something to Sparkling Sean, like pour a pitcher of something over his head. Or started a fight if he had grabbed either of us. But we wouldn’t have taken him home.”

“You were there for me?”

Barry looks a little embarrassed. “I may have overheard Mick mention the place to Sara and that you sometimes went there for, uh, fun.”

“Barry heard that you might want to join a couple as a third and he told me and we decided to go and see if there was a chance,” Iris says, studying Leonard worriedly.

Leonard thinks it’s really nice that they not only wanted him, but they were a little devious about it. Leonard kind of wants to pet them, their little pure-hearted faces telegraphing their guilt about not telling him earlier. It’s possible that he’s really high on those meds. He feels like he should say something reassuring. “There’s money under the bathroom sink, in a toothpaste box.” He succumbs to sleep as Barry and Iris look at him quizzically.

~~~

Waking up is terrible. Everything hurts and all of his muscles have stiffened up. Iris and Barry aren’t in the bed and when he’s finally able to snag the phone on the nightstand, he sees that it’s nearly nine in the morning. At least his eye is no longer swollen shut. He slowly climbs out of bed, resisting the urge to groan. Getting to the shower is accomplished through sheer stubbornness. He knows Barry would do it in a flash, but self-reliance is more than just a habit, it’s a survival technique. His muscles loosen up a bit with the heat of the shower, but getting dressed is still bad. He really wants to shuffle, but that wouldn’t fit with his stubborn determination to show as little weakness as possible, nor would it fit his aesthetic. He saunters into the living room as well as he can with all his injuries, his knee especially causing difficulties. 

As he makes his way into the room, Barry and Iris stop their hushed conversation and look at him in surprise. He makes his way to the couch and settles there, barely keeping from groaning.

“Why didn’t you stay in bed?” Barry asks.

“Moving helps,” Leonard says. Even though getting started hurts, it does help, if he doesn’t push it.

“Oh,” Barry says.

Iris is studying Leonard and has been since he came out of the bedroom. “What?” Leonard asks her.

Iris holds up a roll of cash and a toothpaste box and raises her eyebrows. “Any particular reason you hid this?”

Leonard considers and then answers, “Always a good idea to have a hidden, but accessible stash.”

“That sounds reasonable, sort of. So, why did you tell us about it last night?” Iris asks.

Leonard eyes her, pretty sure she knows there’s more to it than that. He wonders if she would accept it if he said he was just rambling. He decides she might let it go, but she probably wouldn’t believe it. A lie now would put some distance between them and Leonard. The truth would be letting them in, more than they already are. Does he want that? Can he do that? He did come to them when he was hurt. This is where he wanted to be. This is where he wants to be. “I was… a little out of it. I thought you needed something comforting.”

“The money is… comforting?” Iris asks hesitantly.

Leonard licks his lips. “When I was out of the house, but Lisa was still there with our father, I would hide money when they were gone, so that if she needed to leave, find somewhere to eat or whatever, she could. When we would talk, I would tell her where to find it. It wasn’t much, but she said it helped, knowing it was there, just in case.”

“Oh,” Iris says, smiling softly at him.

Barry is bright-eyed and sort of bouncing in his seat. “So, you let us know about your stash so that-“

“Your stash,” Leonard breaks in.

Barry blinks. “Huh?”

“That one’s yours and Iris’. In case, I don’t know, some new evil speedster pops up and one or both of you need to lay low. Or if someone gets accused of a crime and needs to run, whatever.” Leonard hadn’t let either know about it because he hadn’t quite been sure how long this thing would last and he hadn’t quite been ready to deal with them knowing about it, given that it is a sign of how he feels about them.

Iris looks a little misty when she says, “Thank you. I mean, I hope we never have to use it, but thank you.”

Barry looks a little upset, though.

“What?” Leonard asks.

“You make it sound like you won’t be there, with us. Like we would take off without you.”

Leonard gives him an exasperated look. “You had better. I’m not always easily reachable or even somewhere that I could get back from quickly, so don’t wait for me if something’s wrong, just go. I will find you. Neither one of you is a criminal mastermind, I’ll be able to track you down.”

Barry’s face just lights up as if Leonard hadn’t been sort berating and insulting him.

Leonard looks at him questioningly.

“You would come after us. And you’re absolutely sure you would find us because you know us so well,” Barry says gleefully.

Iris is trying to keep a straight face, but she looks like she really wants to laugh and Leonard can’t tell at who, maybe all of them.

Leonard sighs. “Yes.”

Barry fist pumps.

Iris shakes her head at Barry.

Leonard begins the laborious and painful process of getting up.

“Where are you going?” Barry asks.

“Bath,” Leonard says. On top of all his bruising, his joints ache from the way he’s been holding himself.

“Could you use some company?” Iris asks.

Barry perks up. “Yeah, could you?”

Barry and Iris’ tub is pretty large and they actually all can fit in it, but it doesn’t allow for much movement and Leonard got elbowed twice the last time. And given his current condition, them joining him doesn’t seem like the best idea. “Probably not a good idea right now,” Leonard says gesturing at his general condition. “And aren’t you both supposed to be at work?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean in the tub, just that we could be there in the bathroom, talk while you relax. And we’re both taking a day,” Iris says.

Leonard smirks. “Playing hooky, huh?”

“Looking after a hurt loved one,” Barry corrects firmly.

Leonard studies Barry for a long moment and then nods. Leonard looks at Iris. “Well, I suppose I could use some stimulating conversation. And Barry can sit there and look pretty.”

“Hey!” Barry objects.

Iris laughs.

Leonard moves slowly towards the bathroom, a slight smile on his face. Iris and Barry come up on either side. Leonard’s still in a lot of pain, but compared to other times he’s been this beaten up, this one is shaping up so much better.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you find any typos or if the format is messed up or if you think I need any tags.


End file.
